Was there Peter 3. The reign of Peter III (briefly)

(Peter-Ulrich) - Emperor of All Russia, son of the Duke of Holstein-Gottorn Karl-Friedrich, son of the sister of Charles XII of Sweden, and Anna Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great (born 1728); he was thus the grandson of two rival sovereigns and could, under certain conditions, be a contender for both the Russian and Swedish thrones.

In 1741, after the death of Eleonora Ulrika, he was elected the successor of her husband Frederick, who received the Swedish throne, and on November 15, 1742, he was declared by his aunt Elizaveta Petrovna the heir to the Russian throne.

Weak physically and morally, P. Fedorovich was brought up by Marshal Brummer, who was more of a soldier than a teacher. “The barracks order of life, established by the latter for his pupil, in connection with severe and humiliating punishments, could not but weaken the health of P. Fedorovich and interfered with the development in him of moral concepts and a sense of human dignity.

The young prince was taught a lot, but so clumsily that he got a complete disgust for the sciences: Latin, for example, he got tired of so much that later in St. Petersburg he forbade placing Latin books in his library. They taught him, moreover, preparing him mainly for the occupation of the Swedish throne and, therefore, brought him up in the spirit of the Lutheran religion and Swedish patriotism - and the latter at that time was expressed, by the way, in hatred of Russia.

In 1742, after the appointment of P. Fedorovich as heir to the Russian throne, they began to teach him again, but in a Russian and Orthodox way. However, frequent illnesses and marriage to the princess of Anhalt-Zerbst (the future Catherine II) prevented the systematic conduct of education.

P. Fedorovich was not interested in Russia and superstitiously thought that he would find his death here; Academician Shtelin, his new tutor, despite all efforts, could not inspire him with love for his new fatherland, where he always felt like a stranger. Military affairs - the only thing that interested him - was for him not so much a subject of study as fun, and his reverence for Frederick II turned into a desire to imitate him in small things.

The heir to the throne, already an adult, preferred fun to business, which every day became more and more strange and unpleasantly amazed everyone around him. "P. showed all the signs of a stopped spiritual development," says S. M. Solovyov, "he was an adult child." The empress was struck by the underdevelopment of the heir to the throne.

The question of the fate of the Russian throne seriously occupied Elizabeth and her courtiers, and they came up with various combinations.

Some wished that the empress, bypassing her nephew, would pass the throne to his son Pavel Petrovich, and appoint the leader as regent until he came of age. Princess Ekaterina Alekseevna, wife of P. Fedorovich.

That was the opinion of Bestuzhev, Nick. Iv. Panina, Iv. Iv. Shuvalov.

Others stood for the proclamation of Catherine the heir to the throne.

Elizabeth died without having time to decide on anything, and on December 25, 1761, P. Fedorovich ascended the throne under the name of Emperor P. III. He began his activity by decrees, which, under other conditions, could have brought him popular favor.

Such is the decree of February 18, 1762, on the freedom of the nobility, which removed compulsory service from the nobility and was, as it were, the direct predecessor of Catherine's letter of commendation to the nobility of 1785. This decree could make the new government popular among the nobility; another decree, on the destruction of the secret office that was in charge of political crimes, it would seem, should have contributed to its popularity among the masses.

It happened, however, differently. Remaining a Lutheran in his soul, P. III treated the clergy with disdain, closed home churches, addressed insulting decrees to the Synod; by this he aroused the people against him. Surrounded by the Holsteiners, he began to remake in the Prussian way Russian army and thus armed the guard against him, which at that time was almost exclusively noble in composition.

Prompted by his Prussian sympathies, immediately after accession to the throne, P. III refused to participate in the seven-year war and, at the same time, from all Russian conquests in Prussia, and at the end of his reign he began a war with Denmark because of Schleswig, which he wanted to acquire for Holstein.

This aroused the people against him, who remained indifferent when the nobility in the person of the guards openly rebelled against P. III and proclaimed Empress Catherine II (June 28, 1762). P. was removed to Ropsha, where he died on July 7; details of this event are in a letter to Catherine II by Alexei Orlov.

Wed Brikker, "History of Catherine the Great", "Notes of Empress Catherine II" (L., 1888); "Memoirs of the princesse Daschcow" (L., 1840); "Shtelin's Notes" ("Thurs. General. Ist. and Drev. Ros.", 1886, IV); Bilbasov, "History of Catherine II" (vols. 1 and 12). M. P-v. (Brockhaus) Peter III Fedorovich is the grandson of Peter the Great, the son of his daughter Anna, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp (born February 10, 1728), Emperor of All Russia (from December 25, 1761 to June 28, 1762). 14 l. P. was summoned from Holstein to Russia by the Emperor Elizaveta Petrovna and declared Heir to the Throne. Aug 21 In 1745, his marriage to the prince took place. Sophia-Frederike of Anhalt-Zerbst, named Vel. Book. Ekaterina Alekseevna (later Emperor Catherine II). Imperial Elizabeth soon became disillusioned with P., because he clearly did not like Russia, surrounded himself with immigrants from Holstein and did not at all show the abilities necessary for the future Emperor. countries.

All the time it was occupied by the military. fun with the sky. Holstein detachment. troops trained in the Prussian. charter of Friedrich W., sincere. whose admirer P. openly showed himself.

Appreciating her nephew, Elizabeth lost all hope of changing him for the better and by the end of her reign "felt sincere hatred for him" (N.K. Schilder.

Imp. Pavel I. S. 13). Choose a friend. she didn’t dare, because those close to her inspired her that “it’s impossible to change without rebellion and disastrous means, that 20 years has been approved by all oaths” (ibid., p. 14), and after her death, P. III was freely proclaimed Imp. It started short, but the original. period 6 months Board P. Of the measures relating to ext. policies were carried out: a) 18 Feb. In 1762, a manifesto on the freedom of the nobility was published: each nobleman can serve or not serve at his own discretion; b) February 21 1762 - Manifesto for the abolition of secrets. Chancellery and the prohibition to continue to pronounce the terrible "word and deed" that has weighed on Russia for so many years.

As far as these two acts should have evoked the gratitude of moderns and posterity, so much has everything remained. activities P. III caused strong. the murmur of the people and prepared the success of the state. coup on June 28, 1762. These events deprived him of support from two important. support of the state authorities: churches and troops. Feb 16 a decree was promulgated on the establishment of a collegium of economy, to which the management of all bishops was to be transferred. and monastic. estates, and the spirit-stvo and monasteries should have been issued according to the approval. states the content is already out of this board.

This decree, depriving the clergy of enormous material. funds, aroused great displeasure among him.

In addition, the Emperor issued an order to close the houses. churches, and then, calling to himself the archbishop.

Novgorod Dmitry Sechenov, the leading member of the Holy Synod, personally ordered him that all images, except for the images of the Savior and the Mother of God, be taken out of the churches and that the priests were ordered to shave their beards, and the priest's cassocks should be replaced by pastors. frock coats.

In the national the consciousness began to penetrate the masses that the Emperor was not Russian, but the throne was occupied by a "German" and a "Luthor". The white clergy, moreover, were irritated by the command to take them into the military. priestly service. and deacon. sons.

Having lost the support of the spirit, P. equally aroused displeasure in the army.

Back in the reign of the Imperial Elizabeth, Holstein appeared in Oranienbaum. troops, and P. was given full. freedom to show their exercising talents and prepare the transformation of Russian. armies to the Prus. sample.

With the accession to the throne, P. set to work with his usual unreasonable enthusiasm.

The label company was dissolved; in the guard, the former, given to her by Peter V., was changed to a Prus. and introduced Prus. exercises, with which the troops were trained from morning to evening. Started daily. watch parades in the presence of the Emperor. A decree followed on the renaming of cavalry and infantry. pp. by the names of the chiefs. Appeared in St. Petersburg, among others Holstein. relatives, uncle Gos-rya, pr. Georg, who acquired a paramount importance in the guard, was made feldm-scrap and, having no merits and talents behind him, aroused the general against himself. hatred.

Preference given generally to Holstein. officers and soldiers, offended the entire Russian. army: not only the guard was humiliated, but the feeling of the people was trampled in her face. pride.

As if in order to finally arouse the Russian against himself. societies. opinion, P. III and external. policy made anti-national.

By the time of the death of the Empress Elizabeth, Prussia was languishing in unequal. fight, and Friedrich W. had to prepare for the full and inevitable. crushing their ambitions. ideas.

P. III immediately upon accession, neglecting Russia's allies and existing treaties, made peace with Prussia and not only returned to her, without any reward, all the conquests obtained by the Russians. blood, but also our foreign. gave the army at the disposal of Frederick.

In addition, he began to intensively prepare for war with Denmark in order to win back Schleswig from her for his beloved Holstein.

Thus, Russia was threatened by a new war that did not promise the Empire any benefits. In vain did Friedrich W. warn his friend against pernicious. hobbies and pointed out the need to quickly be crowned in order to strengthen the position.

The emperor replied that he had given his ill-wishers so much work that they had no time to engage in a conspiracy and that he was completely calm.

Meanwhile, the conspiracy was ripening, and at the head of the movement aimed at the overthrow of P. III, by the force of events, Imp-tsa Ekaterina Alekseevna stood up, insulted as a woman, worried about the fate and future of the Empire, from which she did not separate herself, and her son, to whom The emperor showed contempt. disposition and to which he did not pay any attention.

To the guard. there were already many on the shelves who sympathized with the coup and expressed their readiness to defend the rights of her and the Heir to the Throne, but most. the Orlov brothers were active figures.

After 3 days celebrations. which marked the conclusion of peace with Prussia, P. III with more. yard moved on June 12 to Oranienbaum.

After spending several days alone in the city, on June 17, Ekaterina went to Peterhof, leaving Tses-cha with Hoffm-rom Panin in St. Petersburg. in Letn. palace.

In Oranienbaum, P. III continued his former revelry. life. In the mornings there were watch parades of Holstein. troops, interrupted by outbreaks of unreasonable. anger, and then drinking bouts began, during which the Emperor quite definitely said that he had decided to get rid of Catherine and marry his favorite Elizaveta Vorontsova.

random events hastened the denouement.

The support of the Imp-tsy, the guard, received an order to march against Denmark: not wanting to leave the Imp-tsu defenseless, her adherents began to divulge that her life and usl-ka were in danger; at the same time, on June 27, one of the prominent participants in the conspiracy, capt. Life Guards Transfiguration. Passek shelf.

Assuming that the conspiracy was discovered, they decided not to hesitate any longer.

On the night of June 28, Catherine was awakened by Alexei Orlov, who had galloped to Peterhof, and brought to St. Petersburg, to the Izmail barracks. who swore allegiance to her. From there, joining Semenovsk. Ekaterina arrived in Kazansk. the cathedral, where it was proclaimed the autocratic Empire; then she went to Zimn. the palace, to which the Preobrazhensky and K.-Guards regiments soon concentrated, and here the senate and synod swore allegiance to her. At the head of 14 thousand. troops of the Imperial about 10 o'clock in the evening. moved to Oranienbaum, dressed in the uniform of Transfiguration. p-ka. Meanwhile, in the morning, at the very time when Catherine was proclaimed the autocratic Imperial of All Russia in Kazansk. Cathedral, P. III in Oranienbaum did the usual. Holstein parade. troops, and at 10 o'clock in the morning went with his retinue to Peterhof, intending to dine with the Imperials in Monplaisir.

Having learned here about what happened in St. Petersburg. state coup, P. in desperation did not know what to do; at first he wanted with his Holstein. army to move against Catherine, but, realizing the recklessness of this enterprise, at 10 pm. went to Kronstadt on a yacht, hoping to lean on the fortress.

But here he commanded in the name of the Imperial Catherine adm. Talyzin, who did not allow P. to land on the shore under the threat of opening fire. Finally, having lost his presence of mind, P. after several chimeric. projects (for example, the Minich project: sail to Revel, transfer there to a military ship and go to Pomerania, from where to go to St. Petersburg with an army) decided to return to Oranienbaum and enter into negotiations with the Empire. When P.'s proposal to share power with him was left unanswered by Catherine, he signed the abdication, asking only to let him go to Holstein, but was sent to live in the suburbs. palace in Ropsha. Golshtinsk. the troops were disarmed.

P. III, according to Friedrich W., "allowed himself to be overthrown from the throne, like a child who is sent to sleep." On July 6, the former Emperor died suddenly and, apparently, violently in Ropsha from "severe colic", as was said in the manifesto on this occasion. (Military enc.) Peter III Fedorovich (Karl-Peter Ulrich), Duke of Holstein, imp. All-Russian; R. Feb 10 1728, † July 6, 1762 (Polovtsov)

Heir

Sovereign

Palace coup

Life after death

Peter III (Pyotr Fedorovich, born Karl Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp; February 21, 1728, Kiel - July 17, 1762, Ropsha) - Russian emperor in 1761-1762, the first representative of the Holstein-Gottorp (Oldenburg) branch of the Romanovs on the Russian throne. Since 1745 - the sovereign duke of Holstein.

After a six-month reign, he was overthrown as a result of a palace coup that elevated his wife, Catherine II, to the throne, and soon lost his life. The personality and activities of Peter III for a long time were regarded by historians unanimously negatively, but then a more balanced approach appeared, noting a number of state merits of the emperor. During the reign of Catherine, many impostors pretended to be Pyotr Fedorovich (about forty cases were recorded), the most famous of which was Emelyan Pugachev.

Childhood, education and upbringing

Grandson of Peter I, son of Tsesarevna Anna Petrovna and Duke of Holstein-Gottorp Karl Friedrich. On his father's side, he was the great-nephew of the Swedish king Charles XII and was first brought up as the heir to the Swedish throne.

Mother of boy named at birth Carl Peter Ulrich, died shortly after his birth, catching a cold during fireworks in honor of the birth of her son. At the age of 11, he also lost his father. After his death, he was brought up in the house of his paternal cousin, Bishop Adolf of Eiten (later King Adolf Fredrik of Sweden). His educators O. F. Brummer and F. V. Berkhholz were not distinguished by high moral qualities and more than once severely punished the child. The crown prince of the Swedish crown was flogged repeatedly; many times the boy was kneeled on peas, and for a long time - so that his knees swelled and he could hardly walk; subjected to other sophisticated and humiliating punishments. Educators cared little about his education: by the age of 13 he knew only a little French.

Peter grew up timid, nervous, impressionable, loved music and painting and at the same time adored everything military (however, he was afraid of cannon fire; this fear remained with him for the rest of his life). It was with military comforts that all his ambitious dreams were connected. He did not differ in good health, rather the opposite: he was sickly and frail. By nature, Peter was not evil; often acted rudely. Peter's penchant for lies and absurd fantasies is also noted. According to some reports, already in childhood he was addicted to wine.

Heir

Elizaveta Petrovna, who became empress in 1741, wanted to secure the throne through her father’s line and, being childless, in 1742, during the coronation celebrations, declared her nephew (the son of her elder sister) the heir to the Russian throne. Karl Peter Ulrich was brought to Russia; he converted to Orthodoxy under the name Petr Fedorovich, and in 1745 he was married to Princess Ekaterina Alekseevna (nee Sophia Frederick Augusta) of Anhalt-Zerbst, the future Empress Catherine II. His official title included the words "Grandson of Peter the Great"; when these words were omitted from the academic calendar, Prosecutor General Nikita Yuryevich Trubetskoy considered this "an important omission for which the academy could be subject to a great answer."

At the first meeting, Elizabeth was struck by the ignorance of her nephew and upset appearance: thin, sickly, with an unhealthy complexion. Academician Jacob Shtelin became his tutor and teacher, who considered his student quite capable, but lazy, at the same time noting in him such features as cowardice, cruelty to animals, and a tendency to boast. The education of the heir in Russia lasted only three years - after the wedding of Peter and Catherine, Shtelin was dismissed from his duties (however, he forever retained Peter's disposition and trust). Neither during his studies, nor subsequently, did Pyotr Fedorovich ever learn to properly speak and write in Russian. The Grand Duke's mentor in Orthodoxy was Simon Todorsky, who also became a teacher of the law for Catherine.

The wedding of the heir was played on a special scale - so that before the ten-day celebrations, "all the tales of the East faded." Peter and Catherine were granted the possession of Oranienbaum near St. Petersburg and Lyubertsy near Moscow.

Peter's relationship with his wife did not work out from the very beginning: she was intellectually more developed, and he, on the contrary, was infantile. Catherine in her memoirs noted:

(In the same place, Catherine, not without pride, mentions that she read the “History of Germany” in eight large volumes in four months. Elsewhere in her memoirs, Catherine writes about the enthusiastic reading of Madame de Sevigne and Voltaire. All memories are about the same time.)

The mind of the Grand Duke was still occupied by children's games, military exercises, and he was not at all interested in women. It is believed that until the beginning of the 1750s there was no marital relationship between husband and wife, but then Peter underwent some kind of operation (presumably circumcision to eliminate phimosis), after which in 1754 Catherine gave birth to his son Paul (future Emperor Paul I) . However, the letter of the Grand Duke to his wife, dated December 1746, testifies to the inconsistency of this version:

The infant heir, the future Russian Emperor Paul I, was taken away from his parents immediately after birth, and Empress Elizaveta Petrovna herself took up his upbringing. However, Pyotr Fedorovich was never interested in his son and was quite satisfied with the permission of the Empress to see Paul once a week. Peter became more and more distant from his wife; his favorite was Elizaveta Vorontsova (sister of E. R. Dashkova). Nevertheless, Catherine noted that for some reason the Grand Duke always had an involuntary trust in her, all the more strange that she did not strive for spiritual intimacy with her husband. In difficult situations, financial or economic, he often turned to his wife for help, calling her ironically Madame la Resource("Lady Help").

Peter never hid his hobbies for other women from his wife; Catherine felt humiliated by this state of affairs. In 1756, she had an affair with Stanisław August Poniatowski, at that time the Polish envoy to the Russian court. For the Grand Duke, his wife's passion also did not become a secret. There is evidence that Peter and Catherine more than once arranged dinners with Poniatovsky and Elizaveta Vorontsova; they took place in the chambers of the Grand Duchess. After, leaving with the favorite for his half, Peter joked: “Well, children, now you don’t need us anymore.” Both couples lived on very good terms with each other. In 1757, the grand ducal couple had another child - Anna (she died of smallpox in 1759). Historians cast great doubt on the paternity of Peter, calling S. A. Poniatovsky the most probable father. However, Peter officially recognized the child as his own.

In the early 1750s, Peter was allowed to discharge a small detachment of Holstein soldiers (by 1758 their number was about one and a half thousand), and he spent all his free time doing military exercises and maneuvers with them. Some time later (by 1759-1760) these Holstein soldiers formed the garrison of the amusing fortress Peterstadt, built in the residence of the Grand Duke Oranienbaum. Another hobby of Peter was playing the violin.

During the years spent in Russia, Peter never made any attempts to get to know the country, its people and history better, he neglected Russian customs, behaved inappropriately during church services, and did not observe fasts and other rituals.

When in 1751 the Grand Duke learned that his uncle had become the Swedish king, he mentioned:

Elizaveta Petrovna did not allow Peter to participate in the decision political issues and the only position in which he could at least somehow prove himself was the position of director of the gentry corps. Meanwhile, the Grand Duke openly criticized the activities of the government, and during the Seven Years' War publicly expressed sympathy for the Prussian King Frederick II. Moreover, Peter secretly helped his idol Friedrich, passing on information about the number of Russian troops in the theater of operations.

Chancellor A.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin explained the manic enthusiasm of the heir to the throne as follows:

The defiant behavior of Pyotr Fedorovich was well known not only at court, but also in the wider strata of Russian society, where the Grand Duke did not enjoy either authority or popularity. In general, Peter shared the condemnation of the anti-Prussian and pro-Austrian policies with his wife, but expressed it much more openly and boldly. However, the Empress, despite the ever-increasing hostility to her nephew, forgave him a lot as the son of a beloved sister who died early.

Sovereign

After the death of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna on December 25, 1761 (January 5, 1762 according to the new style), he was proclaimed emperor. Ruled 186 days. Not crowned.

In assessing the activities of Peter III, two different approaches usually collide. The traditional approach is based on the absolutization of his vices and blind trust in the image created by memoirists - the organizers of the coup (Catherine II, E. R. Dashkova). He is characterized as ignorant, weak-minded, his dislike for Russia is accentuated. Recently, attempts have been made to more objectively consider his personality and activities.

It is noted that Peter III was energetically engaged in state affairs (“Already in the morning he was in his office, where he listened to reports, then hurried to the Senate or collegiums. In the Senate, he took on the most important matters himself energetically and assertively”). His policy was quite consistent; he, in imitation of his grandfather Peter I, proposed a series of reforms.

Among the most important cases of Peter III are the abolition of the Secret Office (Office of Secret Investigative Affairs; Manifesto of February 16, 1762), the beginning of the process of secularization of church lands, the promotion of commercial and industrial activities by creating the State Bank and issuing banknotes (Nominal Decree of May 25), adoption of the decree on freedom of foreign trade (Decree of March 28); it also contains a demand for a careful attitude to forests as one of the most important wealth of Russia. Among other measures, researchers note a decree that allowed the establishment of factories for the production of sailing fabric in Siberia, as well as a decree that qualified the murder of peasants by landowners as “tyrannical torment” and provided for life exile for this. He also stopped the persecution of the Old Believers. Peter III is also credited with the intention to reform the Russian Orthodox Church according to the Protestant model (In the Manifesto of Catherine II on the occasion of her accession to the throne of June 28, 1762, Peter was blamed for this: “Our Greek Church was already extremely exposed to its last danger of changing the ancient Orthodoxy in Russia and the adoption of an infidel law).

Legislative acts adopted during the short reign of Peter III, in many ways became the foundation for the subsequent reign of Catherine II.

The most important document of the reign of Peter Fedorovich is the “Manifesto on the Liberty of the Nobility” (Manifesto of February 18, 1762), thanks to which the nobility became an exclusive privileged class of the Russian Empire. The nobility, being forced by Peter I to obligatory and total duty to serve the state all his life, under Anna Ioannovna, who received the right to retire after 25 years of service, now received the right not to serve at all. And the privileges, initially granted to the nobility as a service class, not only remained, but also expanded. In addition to being exempted from service, the nobles received the right to leave the country virtually unhindered. One of the consequences of the Manifesto was that the nobles could now freely dispose of their land holdings, regardless of their attitude to service (the Manifesto passed over in silence the rights of the nobility to their estates; while the previous legislative acts of Peter I, Anna Ioannovna and Elizaveta Petrovna, concerning noble service, linked service duties and landownership rights). The nobility became as free as a privileged estate in a feudal country can be.

The reign of Peter III was marked by the strengthening of serfdom. The landlords got the opportunity to arbitrarily move the peasants who belonged to them from one county to another; there were serious bureaucratic restrictions on the transition of serfs to the merchant class; during the six months of Peter's reign, about 13 thousand people were distributed from state peasants to serfs (in fact, there were more of them: only men were included in the audit lists in 1762). During these six months, peasant riots arose several times, suppressed by punitive detachments. Noteworthy is the Manifesto of Peter III of June 19 regarding the riots in the Tver and Cannes districts: “We intend to inviolably preserve the landlords with their estates and possessions, and keep the peasants in due obedience to them.” The riots were caused by a spreading rumor about the granting of "liberties to the peasantry", a response to the rumors and served as a legislative act, which was not accidentally given the status of a manifesto.

The legislative activity of the government of Peter III was extraordinary. During the 186-day reign, judging by the official "Complete collection of laws of the Russian Empire", 192 documents were adopted: manifestos, nominal and Senate decrees, resolutions, etc. (They do not include decrees on awards and rank production, monetary payments and on specific private issues).

However, some researchers stipulate that measures useful for the country were taken as if “by the way”; for the emperor himself, they were not urgent or important. In addition, many of these decrees and manifestos did not appear suddenly: they were prepared even under Elizabeth by the “Commission for the drafting of a new Code”, but were adopted at the suggestion of Roman Vorontsov, Pyotr Shuvalov, Dmitry Volkov and other Elizabethan dignitaries who remained at the throne of Pyotr Fedorovich.

Peter III was much more interested in the internal affairs of the war with Denmark: out of Holstein patriotism, the emperor decided, in alliance with Prussia, to oppose Denmark (yesterday's ally of Russia), in order to return Schleswig, taken from her native Holstein, and he himself intended to go on a campaign at the head of the guard.

Immediately upon accession to the throne, Pyotr Fedorovich returned to court most of the disgraced nobles of the previous reign, who were languishing in exile (except for the hated Bestuzhev-Ryumin). Among them was Count Burchard Christopher Munnich, a veteran of palace coups. The Holstein relatives of the emperor were summoned to Russia: Princes Georg Ludwig of Holstein-Gottorp and Peter August Friedrich of Holstein-Beck. Both were promoted to field marshals in view of the war with Denmark; Peter August Friedrich was also appointed governor-general of the capital. Alexander Vilboa was appointed Feldzeugmeister General. These people, as well as the former tutor Jacob Stehlin, who was appointed personal librarian, made up the emperor's inner circle.

Heinrich Leopold von Goltz arrived in St. Petersburg to negotiate a separate peace with Prussia. Peter III valued the opinion of the Prussian envoy so much that he soon began to "rule the whole foreign policy Russia".

Once in power, Peter III immediately ceased hostilities against Prussia and concluded the Peace of Petersburg with Frederick II on extremely unfavorable terms for Russia, returning the conquered East Prussia (which had been an integral part of the Russian Empire for four years); and abandoning all acquisitions during the actually won Seven Years' War. Russia's exit from the war again saved Prussia from complete defeat (see also "The Miracle of the House of Brandenburg"). Peter III easily sacrificed the interests of Russia for the sake of his German duchy and friendship with the idol Frederick. The peace concluded on April 24 caused bewilderment and indignation in society, it was naturally regarded as a betrayal and national humiliation. The long and costly war ended in nothing, Russia did not derive any benefits from its victories.

Despite the progressiveness of many legislative measures, the unprecedented privileges of the nobility, Peter's poorly thought out foreign policy acts, as well as his harsh actions against the church, the introduction of the Prussian order in the army not only did not add to his authority, but deprived him of any social support; in court circles, his policy only gave rise to uncertainty about the future.

Finally, the intention to withdraw the guard from Petersburg and send it to an incomprehensible and unpopular Danish campaign served as a powerful catalyst for a conspiracy that arose in the guard in favor of Ekaterina Alekseevna.

Palace coup

The first beginnings of the conspiracy date back to 1756, that is, at the time of the start of the Seven Years' War and the deterioration of the health of Elizabeth Petrovna. The all-powerful Chancellor Bestuzhev-Ryumin, knowing full well about the pro-Prussian sentiments of the heir and realizing that under the new sovereign he was threatened at least by Siberia, hatched plans to neutralize Pyotr Fedorovich upon his accession to the throne, declaring Catherine an equal co-ruler. However, Alexei Petrovich fell into disgrace in 1758, hastening to implement his plan (the intentions of the chancellor remained undisclosed, he managed to destroy the dangerous papers). The Empress herself had no illusions about her successor on the throne and later thought about replacing her nephew with Paul's great-nephew:

Over the next three years, Catherine, who also fell under suspicion in 1758 and almost ended up in a monastery, did not take any noticeable political actions, except that she stubbornly increased and strengthened personal ties in high society.

In the ranks of the guard, a conspiracy against Pyotr Fedorovich took shape in the last months of Elizaveta Petrovna's life, thanks to the activities of the three Orlov brothers, the officers of the Izmailovsky regiment, the brothers Roslavlev and Lasunsky, the Transfigurationists Passek and Bredikhin, and others. Among the highest dignitaries of the Empire, the most enterprising conspirators were N. I. Panin, the tutor of the young Pavel Petrovich, M. N. Volkonsky and K. G. Razumovsky, the Little Russian hetman, president of the Academy of Sciences, a favorite of his Izmailovsky regiment.

Elizaveta Petrovna died without daring to change anything in the fate of the throne. Catherine did not consider it possible to carry out a coup immediately after the death of the Empress: she was at the end of the fifth month of pregnancy (from Grigory Orlov; in April 1762 she gave birth to a son, Alexei). In addition, Catherine had political reasons not to rush things, she wanted to attract as many supporters as possible to her side for a complete triumph. Knowing well the character of her husband, she rightly believed that Peter would set the entire metropolitan society against him soon enough. To carry out the coup, Catherine chose to wait for the right moment.

The position of Peter III in society was precarious, but the position of Catherine at court was also fragile. Peter III openly said that he was going to divorce his wife in order to marry his favorite Elizaveta Vorontsova.

He treated his wife rudely, and on April 30, during a gala dinner on the occasion of the conclusion of peace with Prussia, there was a public scandal. The emperor, in the presence of the court, diplomats and foreign princes, shouted to his wife across the table "folle"(stupid); Catherine wept. The reason for the insult was Catherine's unwillingness to drink while standing, proclaimed by Peter III toast. The hostility between the spouses reached its climax. On the evening of the same day, he gave the order to arrest her, and only the intervention of Field Marshal Georg of Holstein-Gottorp, the emperor's uncle, saved Catherine.

By May 1762, the change of mood in the capital became so obvious that the emperor was advised from all sides to take measures to prevent a catastrophe, there were denunciations of a possible conspiracy, but Pyotr Fedorovich did not understand the seriousness of his situation. In May, the court, led by the emperor, as usual, left the city, to Oranienbaum. There was a calm in the capital, which greatly contributed to the final preparations of the conspirators.

The Danish campaign was planned for June. The emperor decided to postpone the march of the troops in order to celebrate his name day. On the morning of June 28, 1762, on the eve of Peter's Day, Emperor Peter III with his retinue set off from Oranienbaum, his country residence, to Peterhof, where a solemn dinner was to be held in honor of the emperor's name day. On the eve of St. Petersburg, there was a rumor that Catherine was being held under arrest. The strongest turmoil began in the guard; one of the conspirators, Captain Passek, was arrested; the Orlov brothers feared that there was a threat of disclosure of the conspiracy.

In Peterhof, Peter III was supposed to be met by his wife, who, on the duty of the empress, was the organizer of the celebrations, but by the time the court arrived, she had disappeared. After a short time, it became known that Catherine fled to St. Petersburg early in the morning in a carriage with Alexei Orlov (he arrived in Peterhof to Catherine with the news that events had taken a critical turn and it was no longer possible to delay). In the capital, the guards, the Senate and the Synod, the population swore allegiance to the "Empress and Autocrat of All Russia" in a short time.

The guards marched towards Peterhof.

Peter's further actions show an extreme degree of confusion. Rejecting Minich's advice to immediately head to Kronstadt and fight, relying on the fleet and the army loyal to him stationed in East Prussia, he was going to defend himself in Peterhof in a toy fortress built for maneuvers, with the help of a Holstein detachment. However, having learned about the approach of the guards led by Catherine, Peter abandoned this thought and sailed to Kronstadt with the whole court, ladies, etc. But by that time Kronstadt had already sworn allegiance to Catherine. After that, Peter completely lost heart and, again rejecting Minich's advice to go to the East Prussian army, returned to Oranienbaum, where he signed the abdication.

The events of June 28, 1762 have significant differences from previous palace coups; firstly, the coup went beyond the "walls of the palace" and even beyond the boundaries of the guards barracks, gaining hitherto unprecedented broad support from various segments of the capital's population, and secondly, the guards became an independent political force, and not a protective force, but a revolutionary one that overthrew the legitimate emperor and Catherine, who supported the usurpation of power.

Death

The circumstances of the death of Peter III have not yet been finally clarified.

Immediately after the coup, the deposed emperor, accompanied by a guard of guards headed by A. G. Orlov, was sent to Ropsha, 30 miles from St. Petersburg, where he died a week later. According to the official (and most likely) version, the cause of death was an attack of hemorrhoidal colic, aggravated by prolonged alcohol consumption, and accompanied by diarrhea. An autopsy (which was carried out by order of Catherine) revealed that Peter III had a pronounced dysfunction of the heart, inflammation of the intestines, and there were signs of apoplexy.

However, the common version calls Alexei Orlov the killer. Three letters from Alexei Orlov to Catherine from Ropsha have been preserved, the first two are in the original. The third letter unambiguously refers to the violent nature of the death of Peter III:

The third letter is the only (today known) documentary evidence of the murder of the deposed emperor. This letter has come down to us in a copy made by F. V. Rostopchin; the original letter was allegedly destroyed by Emperor Paul I in the first days of his reign.

Recent historical and linguistic studies refute the authenticity of the document (the original, apparently, never existed, and Rostopchin is the true author of the fake). Rumors (unreliable) were also called the murderers of Peter G. N. Teplov, Catherine's secretary, and guards officer A. M. Shvanvich (son of Martin Schwanwitz; son of A. M. Shvanvich, Mikhail, went over to the side of the Pugachevites and became the prototype of Shvabrin in the Captain's daughter" of Pushkin), who allegedly strangled him with a gun belt. Emperor Paul I was convinced that his father was forcibly deprived of his life, but he apparently failed to find any evidence of this.

Orlov's first two letters from Ropsha usually attract less attention, despite their undeniable authenticity:

From the letters it follows only that the abdicated sovereign suddenly fell ill; the guards did not need to forcibly take his life (even if they really wanted to) due to the transience of a serious illness.

Already today we have carried out a number of medical expertise on the basis of preserved documents and testimonies. Experts believe that Peter III suffered from manic-depressive psychosis in a weak stage (cyclothymia) with a mild depressive phase; suffered from hemorrhoids, which is why he could not sit in one place for a long time; A “small heart” found at autopsy usually suggests dysfunction of other organs as well, making it more likely to have poor blood circulation, which means there is a risk of a heart attack or stroke.

Alexei Orlov personally reported to the Empress on the death of Peter. Catherine, according to N.I. Panin, who was at the same time, burst into tears and said: “My glory has died! Posterity will never forgive me this involuntary crime. Catherine II, from a political point of view, was unfavorable for the death of Peter ("too early for her glory", E. R. Dashkova). The coup (or “revolution”, as the events of June 1762 are sometimes defined), which took place with the full support of the guards, the nobility and the highest ranks of the empire, protected it from possible encroachments on power by Peter and excluded the possibility of any opposition forming around him. In addition, Catherine knew her husband well enough to seriously fear his political aspirations.

Initially, Peter III was buried without any honors in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, since only crowned heads were buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the imperial tomb. The full Senate asked the Empress not to attend the funeral.

But, according to some reports, Catherine decided in her own way; came to the Lavra incognito and paid her last debt to her husband. In 1796, immediately after the death of Catherine, by order of Paul I, his remains were transferred first to the house church of the Winter Palace, and then to the Peter and Paul Cathedral. Peter III was reburied simultaneously with the burial of Catherine II; At the same time, Emperor Paul personally performed the ceremony of crowning the ashes of his father.

The headstones of the buried have the same date of burial (December 18, 1796), which gives the impression that Peter III and Catherine II lived together for many years and died on the same day.

Life after death

Impostors in the world community have not been a novelty since the time of the False Nero, who appeared almost immediately after the death of his "prototype". In Russia, false tsars and false princes of the Time of Troubles are also known, but among all other domestic rulers and members of their families, Peter III holds the absolute record for the number of impostors who tried to take the place of the untimely deceased tsar. In Pushkin's time there were rumors of five; according to the latest data, in Russia alone there were about forty false Peters III.

In 1764, the role of the false Peter was Anton Aslanbekov, a bankrupt Armenian merchant. Detained with a false passport in the Kursk district, he declared himself emperor and tried to raise the people in his defense. The impostor was punished with whips and sent to an eternal settlement in Nerchinsk.

Shortly thereafter, the name of the late emperor was appropriated by a fugitive recruit Ivan Evdokimov, who tried to raise an uprising in his favor among the peasants of the Nizhny Novgorod province and a Ukrainian Nikolay Kolchenko in the Chernihiv region.

In 1765, a new impostor appeared in the Voronezh province, publicly declaring himself emperor. Later, arrested and interrogated, he "showed himself to be a private of the Lant-militia Orlovsky regiment Gavrila Kremnev." Having deserted after 14 years of service, he managed to get himself a horse under the saddle and lure two serf landowners Kologrivov to his side. At first, Kremnev declared himself a “captain in the imperial service” and promised that from now on distillation would be prohibited, and the collection of capitation money and recruitment would be suspended for 12 years, but after a while, prompted by accomplices, he decided to announce his “royal name”. For a short time, Kremnev was successful, the nearest villages greeted him with bread and salt and ringing bells, a detachment of five hundred people gradually gathered around the impostor. However, the untrained and unorganized gang fled at the very first shots. Kremnev was captured, was sentenced to death, but was pardoned by Catherine and sent to an eternal settlement in Nerchinsk, where his traces are completely lost.

In the same year, shortly after the arrest of Kremnev, in Sloboda Ukraine, in the settlement of Kupyanka, Izyumsky district, a new impostor appears. This time it turned out to be Chernyshev Pyotr Fedorovich, a runaway soldier of the Bryansk regiment. This impostor, unlike his predecessors, turned out to be smart and eloquent. Soon captured, convicted and exiled to Nerchinsk, he did not leave his claims there either, spreading rumors that the "father-emperor", who incognito inspected the soldiers' regiments, was mistakenly captured and beaten with whips. The peasants who believed him tried to organize an escape by bringing a horse to the "sovereign" and supplying him with money and provisions for the road. However, the impostor was not lucky. He got lost in the taiga, was caught and severely punished in front of his admirers, sent to Mangazeya for eternal work, but died on the way there.

In the Iset province, a Cossack masons, previously convicted of many crimes, was sentenced to cutting out his nostrils and eternal exile to work in Nerchinsk for spreading rumors that the emperor was alive, but imprisoned in the Trinity Fortress. At the trial, he showed as his accomplice the Cossack Konon Belyanin, who was allegedly preparing to act as emperor. Belyanin escaped with whips.

In 1768, a lieutenant of the Shirvan army regiment, who was kept in the Shlisselburg fortress Josaphat Baturin in conversations with the soldiers on duty, he assured that "Pyotr Fedorovich is alive, but in a foreign land," and even with one of the watchmen he tried to convey a letter for the supposedly hiding monarch. By chance, this episode reached the authorities and the prisoner was sentenced to eternal exile in Kamchatka, from where he later managed to escape, taking part in the famous enterprise of Moritz Benevsky.

In 1769, a runaway soldier was caught near Astrakhan Mamykin, publicly announcing that the emperor, who, of course, managed to escape, "will again accept the kingdom and will benefit the peasants."

An extraordinary personality turned out to be Fedot Bogomolov, a former serf who fled and joined the Volga Cossacks under the name Kazin. Strictly speaking, he himself did not pretend to be the former emperor, but in March-June 1772, on the Volga, in the Tsaritsyn region, when his colleagues, due to the fact that Kazin-Bogomolov seemed to them too quick-witted and smart, suggested that in front of them hiding emperor, Bogomolov easily agreed with his "imperial dignity." Bogomolov, following his predecessors, was arrested, sentenced to tearing out his nostrils, branding and eternal exile. On the way to Siberia, he died.

In 1773, the robber ataman, who had fled from Nerchinsk penal servitude, tried to impersonate the emperor. Georgy Ryabov. His supporters later joined the Pugachevites, declaring that their dead ataman and the leader of the peasant war were one and the same person. The captain of one of the battalions stationed in Orenburg unsuccessfully tried to declare himself emperor Nikolai Kretov.

In the same year, a certain Don Cossack, whose name has not been preserved in history, decided to extract monetary benefits for himself from the widespread belief in the "hiding emperor." Perhaps, of all the applicants, this was the only one who spoke in advance with a purely fraudulent purpose. His accomplice, posing as the secretary of state, traveled around the Tsaritsyn province, taking oaths and preparing the people for the reception of the "father-tsar", then the impostor himself appeared. The couple managed to profit enough at someone else's expense before the news reached the other Cossacks and they decided to give everything a political aspect. A plan was developed to capture the town of Dubrovka and arrest all the officers. However, the plot became known to the authorities and one of the high-ranking military showed sufficient decisiveness to radically suppress the plot. Accompanied by a small convoy, he entered the hut where the impostor was, hit him in the face and ordered him to be arrested along with his accomplice (“secretary of state”). The Cossacks present obeyed, but when the arrested were brought to Tsaritsyn for trial and reprisals, rumors immediately spread that the emperor was in custody and dull unrest began. To avoid an attack, the prisoners were forced to be kept outside the city, under heavy escort. During the investigation, the prisoner died, that is, from the point of view of the inhabitants, he again "disappeared without a trace." In 1774, the future leader of the peasant war, Emelyan Pugachev, the most famous of the false Peter III, skillfully turned this story in his favor, assuring that he himself was the "disappeared emperor" from Tsaritsyn - and this attracted many to his side.

In 1774, another candidate for emperor came across, a certain Panicle. In the same year Foma Mosyagin, who also tried to try on the "role" of Peter III, was arrested and sent to Nerchinsk after the rest of the impostors.

In 1776, the peasant Sergeev paid the same price, gathering around him a gang that was going to rob and burn the landowners' houses. The Voronezh governor Potapov, who managed to defeat the peasant freemen with some difficulty, during the investigation determined that the conspiracy was extremely extensive - at least 96 people were involved in it to one degree or another.

In 1778, a soldier of the Tsaritsyno 2nd Battalion, Yakov Dmitriev, drunk in a bath, told everyone who was ready to listen to him that “In the Crimean steppes, the former third emperor Pyotr Feodorovich is with the army, who had previously been kept under guard, from where he was stolen Don Cossacks; under him, the Iron Forehead leads that army, against which there was already a battle on our side, where two divisions were beaten, and we expect him as a father; and Pyotr Alexandrovich Rumyantsev stands with the army on the border and does not defend against him, but says that he does not want to defend from any side. Dmitriev was interrogated under batogs, and he stated that he heard this story "in the street from unknown people." The Empress agreed with Prosecutor General A. A. Vyazemsky that nothing but drunken dashing and stupid chatter was behind this, and the soldier punished by the batogs was accepted into his former service.

In 1780, after the suppression of the Pugachev rebellion, the Don Cossack Maxim Khanin in the lower reaches of the Volga, he again tried to raise the people, posing as "the miracle of the saved Pugachev" - that is, Peter III. The number of his supporters began to grow rapidly, among them were peasants and village priests, among those in power a serious commotion began. However, on the Ilovla River, the applicant was captured and taken to Tsaritsyn. Astrakhan Governor-General I.V. Yakobi, who had specially arrived to conduct the investigation, subjected the prisoner to interrogation and torture, during which Khanin confessed that back in 1778 he had met in Tsaritsyn with his friend by the name of Oruzheinikov, and this friend convinced him that Khanin “exactly exactly ”is similar to Pugachev-"Peter". The impostor was shackled and sent to the Saratov prison.

Own Peter III was also in the scopal sect - it was its founder Kondraty Selivanov. Rumors about his identity with the "hidden emperor" Selivanov prudently did not confirm, but did not refute either. There is a legend that he met with Paul I in 1797, and when the emperor inquired, not without irony, “Are you my father?” Selivanov allegedly replied, “I am not a father to sin; accept my deed (castration), and I will recognize you as my son. It is only known for certain that Paul ordered the skopsky prophet to be placed in a charity house for the insane at the Obukhov hospital.

The Lost Emperor appeared at least four times abroad and enjoyed considerable success there. For the first time, he appeared in 1766 in Montenegro, which at that time was fighting for independence against the Turks and the Venetian Republic. Strictly speaking, this man, who appeared from nowhere and became a village healer, never declared himself emperor, but a certain captain Tanovich, who had previously been in St. from Orthodox monasteries and came to the conclusion that the original is very similar to its image. A high-ranking delegation was sent to Stephen (that was the name of the stranger) with requests to take power over the country, but he flatly refused until internal strife was stopped and peace was made between the tribes. Such unusual demands finally convinced the Montenegrins of his “royal origin” and, despite the resistance of the churchmen and the intrigues of the Russian general Dolgorukov, Stefan became the ruler of the country. He never revealed his real name, giving Yu. V. Dolgoruky, who sought the truth, a choice of three versions - “Raichevich from Dalmatia, a Turk from Bosnia, and finally a Turk from Ioannina.” Openly recognizing himself as Peter III, he, however, ordered to call himself Stefan and went down in history as Stefan the Small, which is believed to come from the signature of the impostor - “ Stefan, small with small, kind with good, evil with evil". Stefan turned out to be an intelligent and knowledgeable ruler. In the short time that he remained in power, internecine strife ceased; after short frictions, good-neighborly relations with Russia were established and the country defended itself quite confidently against the onslaught of both the Venetians and the Turks. This could not please the conquerors, and Turkey and Venice repeatedly attempted on Stephen's life. Finally, one of the attempts was successful: after five years of reign, Stefan the Small was stabbed to death in his sleep by his own doctor, a Greek by nationality, Stanko Klasomunya, who was bribed by the Skadar Pasha. The things of the impostor were sent to Petersburg, and his associates even tried to get themselves a pension from Catherine for "valiant service to her husband."

After the death of Stefan, the ruler of Montenegro and Peter III, once again "miraculously escaped from the hands of the murderers," a certain Zenovich tried to declare himself, but his attempt was not crowned with success. Count Mocenigo, who at that time was on the island of Zante in the Adriatic, wrote about another impostor in a report to the Doge of the Venetian Republic. This impostor operated in Turkish Albania, in the vicinity of the city of Arta. What ended his epic - is unknown.

The last foreign impostor, having appeared in 1773, traveled all over Europe, corresponded with monarchs, kept in touch with Voltaire and Rousseau. In 1785 in Amsterdam, finally, the swindler was arrested and opened his veins.

The last Russian "Peter III" was arrested in 1797, after which the ghost of Peter III finally leaves the historical scene.

The series “Catherine” was released on the screens, in connection with this, there is a surge of interest in the controversial figures in the history of Russia, Emperor Peter III and his wife, who became Empress Catherine II. Therefore, I present a selection of facts about the life and reign of these monarchs of the Russian Empire.

Peter and Catherine: a joint portrait by G.K.Groot

Peter III (Peter Fedorovich, born Karl Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp) was a very extraordinary emperor. He did not know the Russian language, he liked to play with soldiers and wanted to baptize Russia according to the Protestant rite. His mysterious death led to the emergence of a whole galaxy of impostors.

Already from birth, Peter could claim two imperial titles: Swedish and Russian. On his father's side, he was the great-nephew of King Charles XII, who himself was too busy with military campaigns to marry. Peter's grandfather on his mother's side was the main enemy of Charles, the Russian Emperor Peter I.

An early orphaned boy spent his childhood with his uncle, Bishop Adolf of Eitinsky, where he was raised to hate Russia. He did not know the Russian language and was baptized according to the Protestant custom. True, he also did not know other languages ​​\u200b\u200bbesides his native German, he only spoke a little French.

Peter was supposed to take the Swedish throne, but the childless Empress Elizabeth remembered the son of her beloved sister Anna and declared him heir. The boy is brought to Russia to meet the imperial throne and death.

In fact, the sickly young man was not particularly needed by anyone: neither the aunt-empress, nor the tutors, nor, subsequently, his wife. Everyone was only interested in his origin, even the cherished words were added to the official title of the heir: "Grandson of Peter I."

And the heir himself was interested in toys, first of all - soldiers. Can we accuse him of infantilism? When Peter was brought to St. Petersburg, he was only 13 years old! Dolls attracted the heir more than state affairs or a young bride.

True, with age, his priorities do not change. He continued to play, but secretly. Ekaterina writes: “During the day, his toys were hidden in my bed and under it. The Grand Duke went to bed first after dinner, and as soon as we were in bed, Kruse (the maid) locked the door with a key, and then the Grand Duke played until one or two in the morning.

Over time, toys become bigger and more dangerous. Peter is allowed to write a regiment of soldiers from Holstein, whom the future emperor enthusiastically drives around the parade ground. Meanwhile, his wife is learning Russian and studying French philosophers...

In 1745, the wedding of the heir Peter Fedorovich and Ekaterina Alekseevna, the future Catherine II, was magnificently celebrated in St. Petersburg. There was no love between the young spouses - they differed too much in character and interests. The more intelligent and educated Catherine makes fun of her husband in her memoirs: “he doesn’t read books, and if he does, it’s either a prayer book or descriptions of torture and executions.”

Letter from the Grand Duke to his wife. obverse, bottom left: le .. fevr./ 1746
Madame, this night I ask you not to inconvenience yourself - to sleep with me, since the time to deceive me has passed. After living apart for two weeks, the bed was too narrow. This afternoon. Your most unfortunate husband, whom you would never deign to call that Peter.
February 1746, ink on paper

With marital duty, Peter also did not have everything going smoothly, this is evidenced by his letters, where he asks his wife not to share the bed with him, which has become “too narrow”. This is where the legend originates that the future Emperor Paul was born not at all from Peter III, but from one of the favorites of the loving Catherine.

However, despite the coldness in the relationship, Peter always trusted his wife. In difficult situations, he turned to her for help, and her tenacious mind found a way out of any trouble. Therefore, Catherine received from her husband the ironic nickname "Lady Help".

But not only children's games distracted Peter from the matrimonial bed. In 1750, two girls were presented to the court: Elizaveta and Ekaterina Vorontsov. Ekaterina Vorontsova will be a faithful companion of her royal namesake, while Elizabeth will take the place of the beloved of Peter III.

The future emperor could take any court beauty as his favorite, but his choice fell, nevertheless, on this “fat and awkward” maid of honor. Love is evil? However, is it worth trusting the description left in the memoirs of a forgotten and abandoned wife.

The sharp-tongued Empress Elizaveta Petrovna found this love triangle very amusing. She even nicknamed the good-natured, but narrow-minded Vorontsova "Russian de Pompadour."

It was love that became one of the reasons for the fall of Peter. At court, they began to say that Peter was going, following the example of his ancestors, to send his wife to a monastery and marry Vorontsova. He allowed himself to insult and bully Catherine, who, apparently, endured all his whims, but in fact cherished plans for revenge and was looking for powerful allies.

During the Seven Years' War, in which Russia took the side of Austria. Peter III openly sympathized with Prussia and personally with Frederick II, which did not add to the popularity of the young heir.

Antropov A.P. Peter III Fedorovich (Karl Peter Ulrich)

But he went even further: the heir handed over to his idol secret documents, information about the number and location of Russian troops! Upon learning of this, Elizabeth was furious, but she forgave a lot of her near-nephew for the sake of his mother, her beloved sister.

Why is the heir to the Russian throne so openly helping Prussia? Like Catherine, Peter is looking for allies, and hopes to find one of them in the person of Frederick II. Chancellor Bestuzhev-Ryumin writes: “The Grand Duke was convinced that Frederick II loves him and speaks with great respect; therefore, he thinks that as soon as he ascends the throne, the Prussian king will seek his friendship and will help him in everything.

After the death of Empress Elizabeth, Peter III was proclaimed emperor, but was not officially crowned. He showed himself to be an energetic ruler, and in the six months of his reign he managed, contrary to popular opinion, to do a lot. Estimates of his reign vary greatly: Catherine and her supporters describe Peter as a weak-minded, ignorant martinet and Russophobe. Modern historians create a more objective image.

First of all, Peter made peace with Prussia on unfavorable terms for Russia. This caused discontent in army circles. But then his "Manifesto on the Liberty of the Nobility" gave the aristocracy huge privileges. At the same time, he issued laws prohibiting the torture and murder of serfs, and stopped the persecution of the Old Believers.

Peter III tried to please everyone, but in the end, all attempts turned against him. The reason for the conspiracy against Peter was his ridiculous fantasies about the baptism of Rus' according to the Protestant model. The guards, the main support and support of the Russian emperors, took the side of Catherine. In his palace in Orienbaum, Peter signed the abdication.

Tombs of Peter III and Catherine II in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
The headstones of the buried have the same date of burial (December 18, 1796), which gives the impression that Peter III and Catherine II lived together for many years and died on the same day.

Peter's death is one big mystery. It was not in vain that Emperor Paul compared himself with Hamlet: during the entire reign of Catherine II, the shadow of her deceased husband could not find peace. But was the Empress guilty of her husband's death?

According to the official version, Peter III died of an illness. He was no different good health, and the unrest associated with the coup and renunciation could kill a stronger person. But the sudden and so quick death of Peter - a week after the overthrow - caused a lot of talk. For example, there is a legend according to which the favorite of Catherine, Alexei Orlov, was the killer of the emperor.

The illegal overthrow and suspicious death of Peter gave rise to a whole galaxy of impostors. In our country alone, more than forty people tried to impersonate the emperor. The most famous of them was Emelyan Pugachev. Abroad, one of the false Peters even became the king of Montenegro. The last impostor was arrested in 1797, 35 years after the death of Peter, and only after that the shadow of the emperor finally found peace.

Under the reign Catherine II Alekseevna the Great(nee Sophia Augusta Frederick of Anhalt-Zerbst) from 1762 to 1796, the possessions of the empire expanded significantly. Of the 50 provinces, 11 were acquired during the years of her reign. The amount of state revenues increased from 16 to 68 million rubles. 144 new cities were built (more than 4 cities per year throughout the reign). The army almost doubled, the number of ships of the Russian fleet increased from 20 to 67 battleships, not counting other ships. The army and navy scored 78 brilliant victories, which strengthened Russia's international prestige.

Anna Rosina de Gask (née Lisevski) Princess Sophia Augusta Friederike, in the future Catherine II 1742

Access to the Black and Azov Seas was won, Crimea, Ukraine (except for the Lvov region), Belarus, Eastern Poland, and Kabarda were annexed. The annexation of Georgia to Russia began. At the same time, during her reign, only one execution was carried out - the leader of the peasant uprising, Emelyan Pugachev.

Catherine II on the balcony of the Winter Palace, being greeted by the guards and the people on the day of the coup on June 28, 1762

The daily routine of the Empress was far from the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe inhabitants of the royal life. Her day was scheduled by the hour, and its routine remained unchanged throughout her reign. Only the time of sleep changed: if in her mature years Catherine got up at 5, then closer to old age - at 6, and by the end of her life even at 7 in the morning. After breakfast, the empress received high-ranking officials and secretaries of state. The days and hours of reception of each official were constant. The working day ended at four o'clock, and it was time for rest. The hours of work and rest, breakfast, lunch and dinner were also constant. At 10 or 11 pm Catherine finished the day and went to bed.

Every day, 90 rubles were spent on the food of the Empress (for comparison: the salary of a soldier during the reign of Catherine was only 7 rubles a year). Boiled beef with pickles was a favorite dish, and currant juice was used as a drink. For dessert, preference was given to apples and cherries.

After dinner, the empress took up needlework, while Ivan Ivanovich Betskoy read aloud to her at that time. Ekaterina “skillfully sewed on canvas”, knitted on knitting needles. Having finished reading, she moved to the Hermitage, where she sharpened from bone, wood, amber, engraved, played billiards.

Artist Ilyas Faizullin. Visit of Catherine II to Kazan

Catherine was indifferent to fashion. She did not notice her, and sometimes quite deliberately ignored her. On weekdays, the Empress wore a simple dress and did not wear jewelry.

By her own admission, she did not have a creative mind, but she wrote plays, and even sent some of them to Voltaire for “reviewing”.

Catherine came up with a special suit for the six-month-old Tsarevich Alexander, the pattern of which was asked from her by the Prussian prince and the Swedish king for their own children. And for her beloved subjects, the empress invented the cut of the Russian dress, which they were forced to wear at her court.

Portrait of Alexander Pavlovich, Jean Louis Veil

People who knew Ekaterina closely note her attractive appearance not only in her youth, but also in her mature years, her exceptionally friendly appearance, and ease of handling. Baroness Elizabeth Dimsdale, who was first introduced to her with her husband in Tsarskoye Selo at the end of August 1781, described Catherine as follows: “a very attractive woman with lovely expressive eyes and an intelligent look”

Catherine was aware that men liked her and she herself was not indifferent to their beauty and masculinity. “I received from nature a great sensitivity and appearance, if not beautiful, then at least attractive. I liked the first time and did not use any art and embellishment for this.

The empress was quick-tempered, but knew how to control herself, and never made decisions in a fit of anger. She was very polite even with the servants, no one heard a rude word from her, she did not order, but asked to fulfill her will. Her rule, according to the testimony of Count Segur, was "to praise out loud, and to scold on the sly."

Rules hung on the walls of the ballrooms under Catherine II: it was forbidden to stand in front of the empress, even if she approached the guest and spoke to him while standing. It was forbidden to be in a gloomy mood, insult each other. And on the shield at the entrance to the Hermitage there was an inscription: "The mistress of these places does not tolerate coercion."

Catherine II and Potemkin

Thomas Dimsdale, an English physician, was called from London to introduce smallpox inoculation into Russia. Knowing about the resistance of society to innovation, Empress Catherine II decided to set a personal example and became one of the first patients of Dimsdale. In 1768, an Englishman vaccinated her and Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich with smallpox. The recovery of the Empress and her son was a significant event in the life of the Russian court.

The Empress was a heavy smoker. The cunning Ekaterina, not wanting her snow-white gloves to be saturated with a yellow nicotine coating, ordered to wrap the tip of each cigar with a ribbon of expensive silk.

The Empress read and wrote in German, French and Russian, but made many mistakes. Ekaterina was aware of this and once confessed to one of her secretaries that “she could only learn Russian from books without a teacher,” since “Aunt Elizaveta Petrovna told my chamberlain: it’s enough to teach her, she’s already smart.” As a result, she made four mistakes in a three-letter word: instead of "more", she wrote "ischo".

Johann Baptist Elder Lampi, 1793. Portrait of Empress Catherine II, 1793

Long before her death, Catherine composed an epitaph for her future tombstone:

“Catherine II rests here. She arrived in Russia in 1744 to marry Peter III.

At fourteen, she made a threefold decision: to please her husband, Elizabeth, and the people.

She did not miss anything in order to achieve success in this respect.

Eighteen years of boredom and loneliness led her to read many books.

Having ascended the Russian throne, she made every effort to give her subjects happiness, freedom and material well-being.

She forgave easily and hated no one. She was indulgent, loved life, had a cheerful disposition, was a true republican in her convictions and had a good heart.

She had friends. The job was easy for her. She enjoyed secular entertainment and the arts."

Even during her lifetime in 1742, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna declared her nephew, the son of Anna Petrovna's late elder sister, Karl-Peter-Ulrich, Duke of Holstein-Gotorp, to be the legitimate heir to the Russian throne. He was also a Swedish prince, as he was the grandson of Queen Ulrika Eleonora, who inherited the power of Charles XII, who had no children. Therefore, the boy was brought up in the Lutheran faith, and his tutor was the military marshal Count Otto Brumenn to the marrow of his bones. But according to the peace treaty signed in the city of Abo in 1743 after the actual defeat of Sweden in the war with Russia, Ulrika-Eleonora was forced from plans to crown her grandson to the throne, and the young duke moved to St. Petersburg from Stockholm.

After the adoption of Orthodoxy, he received the name of Peter Fedorovich. His new teacher was Jacob von Stehlin, who considered his student a gifted young man. He clearly excelled in history, mathematics, if it concerned fortification and artillery, and music. However, Elizaveta Petrovna was dissatisfied with his success, because he did not want to study the foundations of Orthodoxy and Russian literature. After the birth of Pavel Petrovich's grandson on September 20, 1754, the Empress began to bring the smart and determined Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna closer to her, and allowed her stubborn nephew to create the Holstein Guards Regiment in Oranienbaum "for fun". Without a doubt, she wanted to declare Paul heir to the throne, and proclaim Catherine regent until he came of age. This further worsened the relationship of the spouses.

After the sudden death of Elizabeth Petrovna on January 5, 1762, Grand Duke Peter III Fedorovich officially married the kingdom. However, he did not stop those timid economic and administrative reforms that the late empress began, although he never felt personal sympathy for her. Quiet, cozy Stockholm, presumably, remained a paradise for him in comparison with the crowded and unfinished St. Petersburg.

By this time, a difficult domestic political situation had developed in Russia.

In the Code of 1754, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna spoke of the monopoly right of nobles to own land and serfs. The landlords just did not have the opportunity to take their lives, punish them with a cattle whip and torture them. The nobles received an unlimited right to buy and sell peasants. In Elizabethan times, the main form of protest by serfs, schismatics and sectarians was the mass escape of peasants and townspeople. Hundreds of thousands fled not only to the Don and Siberia, but also to Poland, Finland, Sweden, Persia, Khiva and other countries. There were other signs of the crisis - the country was flooded with "robber bands". The reign of the "daughter of Petrova" was not only a period of flourishing of literature and art, the emergence of the noble intelligentsia, but at the same time, when the Russian tax-paying population felt an increase in the degree of their lack of freedom, human humiliation, impotence against social injustice.

“Development stopped before its growth; in the years of courage, he remained the same as he was in childhood, he grew up without maturing, - he wrote about the new emperor V.O. Klyuchevsky. “He was a grown man, forever remaining a child.” The outstanding Russian historian, like other domestic and foreign researchers, awarded Peter III with many negative qualities and offensive epithets that can be argued with. Of all the previous sovereigns and sovereigns, perhaps only he held out on the throne for 186 days, although he was distinguished by independence in making political decisions. The negative characterization of Peter III is rooted in the times of Catherine II, who made every effort to discredit her husband in every possible way and inspire her subjects with the idea of ​​what a great feat she accomplished in saving Russia from the tyrant. “More than 30 years have passed since the sad memory of Peter III went to the grave,” wrote N.M. Karamzin in 1797 - and deceived Europe all this time judged this sovereign from the words of his mortal enemies or their vile supporters.

The new emperor was small in stature, with a disproportionately small head, and snub-nosed. He was disliked immediately because after the grandiose victories over the best Prussian army in Europe, Frederick II the Great in the Seven Years' War and the capture of Berlin by Count Chernyshev, Peter III signed a humiliating - from the point of view of the Russian nobility - peace, which returned to defeated Prussia all the conquered territories without any preconditions . It was said that he even stood under the gun "on guard" for two hours in the January frost as a token of apology in front of the empty building of the Prussian embassy. Commander-in-Chief Russian army Duke Georg of Holstein-Gottorp was appointed. When the emperor’s favorite, Elizaveta Romanovna Vorontsova, asked him about this strange act: “What did this Friedrich give you, Petrusha - after all, we beat him in the tail and mane?”, He sincerely replied that “I love Friedrich because I love everyone! » However, most of all, Peter III valued a reasonable order and discipline, considering the order established in Prussia as a model. Imitating Frederick the Great, who played the flute beautifully, the emperor diligently studied violin skills!

However, Pyotr Fedorovich hoped that the king of Prussia would support him in the war with Denmark in order to regain Holstein, and even sent 16,000 soldiers and officers under the command of cavalry general Pyotr Aleksandrovich Rumyantsev to Braunschweig. However, the Prussian army was in such a deplorable state that Frederick the Great did not dare to draw it into a new war. Yes, and Rumyantsev was far from delighted to have the Prussians beaten by him many times as allies!

Lomonosov reacted in his pamphlet to the accession of Peter III:

“Have any of those born into the world heard,

So that the triumphant people

Surrendered into the hands of the vanquished?

Oh shame! Oh, strange twist!

Frederick II the Great, in turn, awarded the emperor the rank of colonel in the Prussian army, which further outraged the Russian officers, who defeated the previously invincible Prussians near Gross-Jägersdorf, and near Zorndorf, and near Kunersdorf, and captured Berlin in 1760. As a result of the bloody Seven Years' War, Russian officers received nothing but invaluable military experience, well-deserved authority, military ranks and orders.

And frankly and without hiding it, Peter III did not love his "skinny and stupid" wife Sophia-Frederick-August, Princess von Anhalt-Zerbst, in Orthodoxy, Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna. Her father Christian-Augustin was in active Prussian service and was the governor of the city of Stettin, and her mother Johanna-Elizabeth came from an old noble family of Holstein-Gottorp. The Grand Duke and his wife turned out to be distant relatives, and even were similar in character. Both were distinguished by a rare sense of purpose, fearlessness bordering on insanity, unlimited ambition and exorbitant vanity. Both husband and wife considered monarchy their natural right, and their own decisions - the law for subjects.

And although Ekaterina Alekseevna gave the heir to the throne a son, Pavel Petrovich, relations between the spouses always remained cool. Despite court gossip about his wife's countless adulteries, Paul was very much like his father. But this, nevertheless, only alienated the spouses from each other. Surrounded by the emperor, the Holstein aristocrats invited by him - Prince Holstein-Becksky, Duke Ludwig of Holstein and Baron Ungern - willingly gossiped about Catherine's love affairs either with Prince Saltykov (according to rumors, Pavel Petrovich was his son), then with Prince Poniatovsky, then with Count Chernyshev, then with Count Grigory Orlov.

The emperor was irritated by Catherine's desire to become Russified, to comprehend Orthodox religious sacraments, to learn the traditions and customs of future Russian subjects, which Peter III considered pagan. He said more than once that, like Peter the Great, he would divorce his wife and become the husband of the chancellor's daughter, Elizaveta Mikhailovna Vorontsova.

Catherine paid him in full reciprocity. The reason for the desired divorce from his unloved wife was the “letters” fabricated in Versailles by Grand Duchess Catherine to Field Marshal Apraksin that after the victory over the Prussian troops near Memel in 1757 he should not enter East Prussia in order to enable Frederick the Great to recover from defeat. On the contrary, when the French ambassador in Warsaw demanded from Elizaveta Petrovna the removal of the King of the Commonwealth, Stanislav-August Poniatowski, from St. Petersburg, alluding to his love affair with the Grand Duchess, Catherine frankly declared to the Empress: Russian empress and how dare he impose his will on the mistress of the strongest European power?

Chancellor Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov did not have to prove the forgery of these papers, but, nevertheless, in a private conversation with the St. Petersburg police chief Nikolai Alekseevich Korf, Peter III expressed his innermost thoughts: Peter, with his first wife - let him pray and repent! And I will put them with my son in Shlisselburg ... ". Vorontsov decided not to rush things with slander against the emperor's wife.

However, this catchphrase of his about “universal Christian love” and the performance of Mozart’s works on the violin at a very decent level, with which Peter III wanted to enter Russian history, did not add to his popularity among the domestic nobility. In fact, brought up in a strict German atmosphere, he was disappointed with the morals that reigned at the court of his compassionate aunt with her favorites, ministerial leapfrog, eternal ball ceremonies and military parades in honor of Peter's victories. Peter III, having converted to Orthodoxy, did not like to attend church services in churches, especially on Easter, make pilgrimages to holy places and monasteries and observe obligatory religious fasts. The Russian nobles believed that at heart he always remained a Lutheran, if not even a "freethinker in the French manner."

The Grand Duke at one time laughed heartily at the rescript of Elizabeth Petrovna, according to which “the valet, who is on duty at the door of Her Majesty at night, is obliged to listen and, when the mother empress screams from a nightmare, put her hand on her forehead and say “white swan” , for which this valet complains to the nobility and receives the surname Lebedev. As she grew older, Elizaveta Petrovna constantly dreamed of the same scene, how she was raising the deposed Anna Leopoldovna from her bed, by that time long dead in Kholmogory. It didn't help that she changed her bedroom almost every night. There were more and more noble Lebedevs. For simplicity, they began to be called such people from the peasant class after another passportization in the reign of Alexander II by the landowners Lebedinsky.

In addition to "universal kindness" and the violin, Peter III adored subordination, order and justice. Under him, the nobles disgraced under Elizabeth Petrovna were returned from exile - Duke Biron, Count Minich, Count Lestok and Baroness Mengden and restored in rank and condition. This was perceived as the threshold of a new "Bironism"; the appearance of a new foreign favorite was simply not yet looming. Lieutenant-General Count Ivan Vasilievich Gudovich, military to the marrow of his bones, was clearly not suitable for this role, the toothless and idiotically smiling Minich and the forever frightened Biron were not taken into account by anyone, of course.

The very sight of St. Petersburg, where among the dugouts and "smoky huts" of state serfs and townspeople assigned to the settlement, the Peter and Paul Fortress, the Winter Palace and the house of the governor-general of the capital Menshikov, with cluttered dirty streets, towered, disgusted the emperor. However, Moscow looked no better, standing out only for its numerous cathedrals, churches and monasteries. Moreover, Peter the Great himself forbade building up Moscow with brick buildings and paving the streets with stone. Peter III wanted to slightly ennoble the appearance of his capital - "Northern Venice".

And he, together with the Governor-General of St. Petersburg, Prince Cherkassky, gave the order to clean up the construction site in front of the Winter Palace, littered for many years, through which the courtiers made their way to the main entrance, as if through the ruins of Pompeii, tearing camisoles and soiling boots. Petersburgers sorted out all the rubble in half an hour, taking for themselves broken bricks, and trimmings of rafters, and rusty nails, and the remains of glass and fragments of scaffolding. The square was soon ideally paved by Danish masters and became the decoration of the capital. The city began to gradually rebuild, for which the townspeople were extremely grateful to Peter III. The same fate befell the construction dumps in Peterhof, Oranienbaum, at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra and on Strelna. The Russian nobles saw this as a bad sign - they did not like foreign orders and were afraid from the time of Anna Ioannovna. The new urban quarters beyond the Moika, where commoners opened "commercial houses" sometimes looked better than the town's wooden huts, as if transferred from the boyar Moscow past.

The emperor was also disliked for the fact that he adhered to a strict daily routine. Getting up at six o'clock in the morning, Peter III raised the commanders of the guards regiments on alarm, and arranged military reviews with mandatory exercises in stepping, shooting and combat formation. The Russian guardsmen hated discipline and military exercises with every fiber of their soul, considering it their privilege to free order, sometimes appearing in regiments in home dressing gowns and even in nightgowns, but with a charter sword at the waist! The last straw was the introduction of a Prussian-style military uniform. Instead of the Russian dark green army uniform with red standing collars and cuffs, uniforms of orange, blue, orange, and even canary colors should have been worn. Wigs, aiguillettes and espantons became obligatory, because of which the “Preobrazhenets”, “Semyonovtsy” and “Izmailovtsy” became almost indistinguishable, and narrow boots, in the tops of which, as of old, flat German vodka flasks could not fit. In a conversation with his close friends, the Razumovsky brothers, Alexei and Kirill, Peter III said that the Russian "guards are the current Janissaries, and they should be liquidated!"

Reasons for a palace conspiracy in the guard accumulated enough. Being a smart man, Peter III understood that it was dangerous to trust the “Russian Praetorians” with his life. And he decided to create his own personal guard - the Holstein Regiment under the command of General Gudovich, but managed to form only one battalion of 1,590 people. After Russia's strange end to its participation in the Seven Years' War, the Holstein-Gothorpe and Danish nobles were in no hurry to Petersburg, which clearly sought to pursue an isolationist policy that did not promise any benefits to the professional military. Desperate rogues, drunkards and people of dubious reputation were recruited into the Holstein Battalion. And the peacefulness of the emperor alarmed the mercenaries - double salaries were paid to Russian military personnel only during the period of hostilities. Peter III, however, was not going to deviate from this rule, especially since the state treasury was thoroughly devastated during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna.

Chancellor Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov and Actual Privy Councilor and at the same time Life Secretary Dmitry Ivanovich Volkov, seeing the liberal mood of the emperor, immediately began to prepare the highest manifestos, which Peter III, unlike Anna Leopoldovna and Elizabeth Petrovna, not only signed, but also read. He personally corrected the text of the draft documents, inserting his own rational critical judgments into them.

So, according to his Decree of February 21, the sinister Secret Chancellery was liquidated, and its archive "to eternal oblivion" was transferred to the Governing Senate for permanent storage. Fatal for any Russian filed formula "Word and deed!", Which was enough to "test on the rack" of anyone, regardless of his class affiliation; it was forbidden even to pronounce it.

In his programmatic “Manifesto on the Liberty and Freedom of the Russian Nobility” dated February 18, 1762, Peter III generally abolished physical torture of representatives of the ruling class and provided them with guarantees of personal immunity, if this did not concern treason to the Fatherland. Even such a "humane" execution for the nobles as cutting the tongue and exile to Siberia instead of cutting off the head, introduced by Elizaveta Petrovna, was prohibited. His decrees confirmed and expanded the noble monopoly on distillation.

The Russian nobility was shocked by the public process in the case of General Maria Zotova, whose estates were sold at auction in favor of disabled soldiers and crippled peasants for the inhuman treatment of serfs. The Prosecutor General of the Senate, Count Alexei Ivanovich Glebov, was ordered to begin an investigation into the case of many fanatical nobles. In this regard, the emperor issued a separate decree, the first in Russian legislation, qualifying the murder of their peasants by landowners as "tyrannical torment", for which such landowners were punished with life exile.

From now on, it was forbidden to punish peasants with batogs, which often led to their death - "for this, use only rods, with which to whip only in soft places in order to prevent self-mutilation."

All fugitive peasants, Nekrasov sectarians and deserters, who fled in tens of thousands for the most part to the border river Yaik, beyond the Urals, and even to the distant Commonwealth and Khiva in the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, were amnestied. By Decree of January 29, 1762, they received the right to return to Russia not to their former owners and to the barracks, but as state serfs or were granted Cossack dignity in the Yaik Cossack army. It was here that the most explosive human material accumulated, from now on fiercely devoted to Peter III. The Old Believers-schismatics were exempted from the tax for dissent and could now live their way. Finally, all debts accumulated from the Cathedral Code of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich were written off from privately owned serfs. There was no limit to popular rejoicing: prayers were offered to the emperor in all rural parishes, regimental chapels and schismatic sketes.

The merchant class also turned out to be treated kindly. By personal decree of the emperor, duty-free export of agricultural goods and raw materials to Europe was allowed, which significantly strengthened the country's monetary system. To support foreign trade, the State Bank was established with a loan capital of five million silver rubles. Merchants of all three guilds could get a long-term loan.

Peter III decided to complete the secularization of church land holdings, begun shortly before his death by Peter the Great, by decree of March 21, 1762, limiting the immovable property of all rural parishes and monasteries to their fences and walls, leaving them the territory of cemeteries, and was also going to prohibit representatives of the clergy from owning serfs and artisans. Church hierarchs greeted these measures with frank discontent, and joined the noble opposition.

This led to the fact that between the parish priests, who were always closer to the masses, and the provincial nobles, who held back government measures that somehow improved the situation of the peasants and working people, and the "white clergy", who constituted a stable opposition to the growing absolutism from Patriarch Nikon, lay the abyss. The Russian Orthodox Church no longer represented a single force, and society was split. Having become Empress, Catherine II canceled these decrees in order to make the Holy Synod obedient to her authority.

The decrees of Peter III on the all-round encouragement of commercial and industrial activities were supposed to streamline monetary relations in the empire. His "Decree on Commerce", which included protectionist measures to develop grain exports, contained specific instructions on the need for energetic nobles and merchants to take care of the forest as the national wealth of the Russian Empire.

What other liberal plans swarmed in the head of the emperor, no one will be able to find out ...

By a special resolution of the Senate, it was decided to erect a gilded statue of Peter III, but he himself opposed this. The flurry of liberal decrees and manifestos shook noble Russia to its foundations, and touched patriarchal Rus', which had not yet completely parted with the remnants of pagan idolatry.

On June 28, 1762, the day before his own name day, Peter III, accompanied by the Holstein battalion, together with Elizaveta Romanovna Vorontsova, left for Oranienbaum to prepare everything for the celebration. Ekaterina was left in Peterhof unattended. Early in the morning, having missed the solemn train of the emperor, the carriage with the sergeant of the Preobrazhensky Regiment Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov and Count Alexander Ilyich Bibikov turned to Moplesir, took Ekaterina and rushed to St. Petersburg at a gallop. Here everything was already prepared. The money for the organization of the palace coup was again borrowed from the French ambassador Baron de Breteuil - King Louis XV wanted Russia to start hostilities again against Prussia and England, which was promised by Count Panin in the event of the successful overthrow of Peter III. Grand Duchess Catherine, as a rule, remained silent when Panin colorfully described to her the appearance of a “new Europe” under the auspices of the Russian Empire.

Four hundred "Preobrazhentsev", "Izmailovtsy" and "Semenovtsy", fairly warmed up by vodka and unrealizable hopes to eradicate everything foreign, welcomed the former German princess as an Orthodox Russian empress as a "mother"! In the Kazan Cathedral, Catherine II read out the Manifesto about her own accession, written by Count Nikita Ivanovich Panin, where it was reported that due to the severe mental disorder of Peter III, reflected in his frantic republican aspirations, she was forced to take state power into her own hands. The Manifesto contained a hint that after the coming of age of her son Paul, she would resign. Catherine managed to read this paragraph so indistinctly that no one in the jubilant crowd really heard anything. As always, the troops willingly and cheerfully swore allegiance to the new empress and rushed to the barrels of beer and vodka previously placed in the doorways. Only the Horse Guards Regiment tried to break through to the Nevsky, but on the bridges, wheel to wheel, cannons were placed tightly under the command of the zalmeister (lieutenant) of the guards artillery and the lover of the new empress, Grigory Grigoryevich Orlov, who vowed to lose his life, but not to let him disrupt the coronation. It turned out to be impossible to break through the artillery positions without the help of the infantry, and the horse guards retreated. For his feat in the name of his beloved, Orlov received the title of count, the title of senator and the rank of adjutant general.

In the evening of the same day, 20,000 cavalry and infantry, led by Empress Catherine II, dressed in the uniform of a colonel of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, moved to Oranienbaum to overthrow the legitimate descendant of the Romanovs. Peter III simply had nothing to defend against this huge army. He had to silently sign the act of renunciation, arrogantly extended by his wife straight from the saddle. On the maid of honor, Countess Elizaveta Vorontsova, the Izmaylovo soldiers tore her ball gown into tatters, and his goddaughter, the young princess Vorontsova-Dashkova, boldly shouted to Peter in the face: “So, godfather, don’t be rude to your wife in the future!” The deposed emperor sadly replied: “My child, it does not hurt you to remember that driving bread and salt with honest fools like your sister and I is much safer than with great wise men who squeeze the juice from a lemon and throw the peel under their feet.”

The next day, Peter III was already under house arrest in Ropsha. He was allowed to live there with his beloved dog, a Negro servant and a violin. He only had a week to live. He managed to write to Catherine II two notes with a plea for mercy and a request to let him go to England together with Elizabeth Vorontsova, ending with the words “I hope for your generosity that you will not leave me without food according to the Christian model”, signed “your devoted lackey”.

On Saturday, July 6, Peter III was killed during a card game by his voluntary jailers Alexei Orlov and Prince Fyodor Baryatinsky. Guardsmen Grigory Potemkin and Platon Zubov, who were privy to the plans of the conspiracy and witnessed the bullying of the disgraced emperor, carried the guard incessantly, but they were not hindered. In the morning Orlov wrote in a drunken handwriting, swaying from insomnia, probably right on the flag officer’s drum, a note to “our All-Russian mother” Catherine II, in which he said that “our freak is very sick, no matter how he died today.”

The fate of Pyotr Fedorovich was a foregone conclusion, all he needed was a pretext. And Orlov accused Peter of distorting the map, to which he shouted indignantly: "Who are you talking to, serf?!" An exact terrible blow followed in the throat with a fork, and with a wheeze, the former emperor fell back. Orlov was taken aback, but the resourceful Prince Baryatinsky immediately tightly tied the throat of the dying man with a silk Holstein scarf, so much so that the blood did not drain from the head and baked under the skin of the face.

Later, Alexei Orlov, who had sobered up, wrote a detailed report to Catherine II, in which he pleaded guilty to the death of Peter III: “Mother merciful Empress! How can I explain, describe what happened: you will not believe your faithful slave. But as before God I will tell the truth. Mother! I am ready to go to my death, but I myself do not know how this trouble happened. We died when you do not have mercy. Mother - he is not in the world. But no one thought of this, and how can we think of raising our hands against the sovereign! But disaster struck. He argued at the table with Prince Fyodor Boryatinsky; before we [with Sergeant Potemkin] had time to separate them, he was already gone. We ourselves do not remember what we did, but we are all guilty and worthy of execution. Have mercy on me for my brother. I brought you a confession, and there is nothing to look for. Forgive me or tell me to finish soon. The light is not sweet - they angered you and ruined your souls forever.

Catherine shed a “widow's tear” and generously rewarded all the participants in the palace coup, at the same time conferring extraordinary military ranks on the guards officers. The Little Russian hetman, Field Marshal Count Kirill Grigoryevich Razumovsky began to receive "in addition to his hetman's income and the salary he received" 5,000 rubles a year and a real state adviser, senator and chief officer Count Nikita Ivanovich Panin - 5,000 rubles a year. Actual chamberlain Grigory Grigorievich Orlov was granted 800 souls of serfs, and the same number of seconds-major of the Preobrazhensky regiment Alexei Grigorievich Orlov. Lieutenant-Captain of the Preobrazhensky Regiment Pyotr Passek and Lieutenant of the Semenovsky Regiment Prince Fyodor Boryatinsky were awarded 24,000 rubles each. The attention of the empress was also attended by Lieutenant of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, Prince Grigory Potemkin, who received 400 souls of serfs, and Prince Pyotr Golitsyn, who was given 24,000 rubles from the treasury.

On June 8, 1762, Catherine II publicly announced that Peter III Fedorovich had died: "The former emperor, by the will of God, suddenly died of hemorrhoidal colic and severe pain in the intestines" - which was absolutely incomprehensible to most of those present due to widespread medical illiteracy - and even arranged magnificent " funeral" of a simple wooden coffin, without any decorations, which was placed in the Romanov family vault. At night, the remains of the murdered emperor were secretly placed inside a simple wooden domina.

The real burial took place in Ropsha the day before. The assassination of Emperor Peter III had unusual consequences: because of the neck tied with a scarf at the time of death, a black man lay in the coffin! The soldiers of the guard immediately decided that instead of Peter III they had put a "black arap", one of the many palace jesters, all the more so because they knew that the guards of honor were preparing for the funeral the next day. This rumor spread among the guards, soldiers and Cossacks stationed in St. Petersburg. A rumor spread throughout Russia that Tsar Pyotr Fedorovich, kind to the people, miraculously escaped, and twice they interred not him, but some commoners or court jesters. And therefore, more than twenty “miraculous deliverances” of Peter III took place, the largest of which was the Don Cossack, retired cornet Emelyan Ivanovich Pugachev, who organized a terrible and merciless Russian revolt. Apparently, he knew a lot about the circumstances of the double burial of the emperor and that the Yaik Cossacks and runaway schismatics were ready to support his “resurrection”: it was no coincidence that the Old Believer cross was depicted on the banners of Pugachev’s army.

The prophecy of Peter III, expressed to Princess Vorontsova-Dashkova, turned out to be true. All those who helped her become empress soon had to be convinced of the great "gratitude" of Catherine II. Contrary to their opinion, in order for her to declare herself regent and rule with the help of the Imperial Council, she declared herself empress and was officially crowned on September 22, 1762 in the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin.

A terrible warning for the probable noble opposition was the restoration of the detective police, which received the new name of the Secret Expedition.

Now a conspiracy was drawn up against the Empress. The Decembrist Mikhail Ivanovich Fonvizin left a curious note: “In 1773 ... when the Tsarevich came of age and married a Darmstadt princess named Natalya Alekseevna, Count N.I. Panin, his brother Field Marshal P.I. Panin, Princess E.R. Dashkova, Prince N.V. Repnin, one of the bishops, almost Metropolitan Gabriel, and many of the then nobles and guards officers entered into a conspiracy to overthrow Catherine II, who reigned without a [legal] right [to the throne], and instead of her raise her adult son. Pavel Petrovich knew about this, agreed to accept the constitution offered to him by Panin, approved it with his signature and took an oath that, having reigned, he would not violate this fundamental state law that limited autocracy.

The peculiarity of all Russian conspiracies was that the oppositionists, who did not have such experience as their Western European associates, constantly sought to expand the limits of their narrow circle. And if the case concerned the higher clergy, then their plans became known even to the parish priests, who in Russia had to immediately explain to the common people the changes in state policy. It is impossible to consider the appearance of Emelyan Ivanovich Pugachev precisely in 1773 as an accident or a mere coincidence: he could learn about the plans of high-ranking conspirators from this very source and in his own way use the opposition moods of the nobility against the empress in the capital, fearlessly moving towards the regular regiments of the imperial army in the Ural steppes, inflicting defeat after defeat on them.

No wonder Pugachev, like them, constantly appealed to the name of Pavel as the future successor of the "father's" work and the overthrow of the hated mother. Catherine II found out about the preparations for the coup, which coincided with the "Pugachevshchina", and spent almost a year in the admiral's cabin of her yacht Shtandart, which was constantly standing at the Vasilyevsky Spit under the protection of two newest battleships with faithful crews. In a difficult moment, she was ready to sail to Sweden or England.

After the public execution of Pugachev in Moscow, all the high-ranking St. Petersburg conspirators were sent into honorable retirement. The overly energetic Ekaterina Romanovna Vorontsova-Dashkova went to her own estate for a long time, Count Panin, formally remaining the President of the Foreign Collegium, was actually removed from state affairs, and Grigory Grigorievich Orlov, allegedly secretly married to the Empress, was no longer allowed to attend an audience with Catherine II, and later exiled to his own fiefdom. Admiral-General Count Aleksey Grigoryevich Orlov-Chesmensky, the hero of the first Russian-Turkish war, was relieved of his post as commander of the Russian fleet and sent to the diplomatic service abroad.

The long and unsuccessful siege of Orenburg also had its reasons. Infantry General Leonty Leontyevich Bennigsen later testified: “When the Empress lived in Tsarskoye Selo during the summer season, Pavel usually lived in Gatchina, where he had a large detachment of troops. He surrounded himself with guards and pickets; patrols constantly guarded the road to Tsarskoye Selo, especially at night, in order to prevent her from any unexpected undertaking. He even determined in advance the route along which he would withdraw with the troops if necessary; the roads along this route were studied by trusted officers. This route led to the land of the Ural Cossacks, from where the famous rebel Pugachev appeared, who in ... 1773 managed to make himself a significant party, first among the Cossacks themselves, assuring them that he was Peter III, who had escaped from the prison where he was held, falsely announcing his death. Pavel counted very much on the kind reception and devotion of these Cossacks... But he wanted to make Orenburg the capital.” Probably, Paul got this idea in conversations with his father, whom he loved very much in infancy. It is no coincidence that one of the first little-explained - from the point of view of common sense - actions of Emperor Paul I was the solemn act of the second "marriage" of the two most august dead in their coffins - Catherine II and Peter III!

So the palace coups in the “temple unfinished by Peter the Great” created a constant ground for imposture, which pursued the interests of both noble Russia and serf Orthodox Rus', and even took place almost simultaneously. This has been the case since the Time of Troubles.

Peter and Catherine: a joint portrait by G. K. Groot

There are many personalities in Russian history who, by their actions, make descendants (and in some cases even their contemporaries) shrug their shoulders in surprise and ask the question - “Have people brought this country at least some benefit?”

Unfortunately, among such figures there are also people who, by virtue of their origin, fell to the very top of the Russian state power, bringing confusion and discord to the progressive movement of the state mechanism, and even frankly harming Russia on the scale of the country's development. These people include the Russian Emperor Peter Fedorovich, or simply Tsar Peter III.

The activities of Peter III as emperor were inextricably linked with Prussia, which in the middle of the 18th century was a major European power and played an important role in the major military conflict of that time - the Seven Years' War.

The Seven Years' War can be briefly described as a war against Prussia, which had become too strong after the division of the Austrian inheritance. Russia participated in the war within the framework of the anti-Prussian coalition (consisting of France and Austria according to the Versailles Defensive Alliance, and Russia which joined them in 1756).

In the war, Russia defended its geopolitical interests in the Baltic region and northern Europe, on the territory of which Prussia fixed its greedy gaze. The short reign of Peter III, due to his excessive love for Prussia, had a detrimental effect on Russian interests in this region, and who knows how the history of our state would have developed if he had lingered on the throne longer? Indeed, following the surrender of positions in the almost won war with the Prussians, Peter was preparing for a new campaign - against the Danes.

Peter III Fedorovich was the son of the daughter of Peter I Anna and the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp Charles Friedrich (who was the son of the sister of the Swedish king Charles XII and this created a well-known paradox for the reigning houses of the two powers, since Peter was the heir to both the Russian and Swedish thrones).

Full name Petra sounded like Karl Peter Ulrich. The death of his mother, which followed a week after his birth, left Peter virtually an orphan, since the disorderly and reckless life of Karl Friedrich did not allow him to properly raise his son. And after the death of his father in 1739, a certain marshal O. F. Brummer, an old-school stern martinet, who subjected the boy to all kinds of punishments for the slightest offense, and instilled in him the ideas of Lutheran meekness and Swedish patriotism (which suggests that Peter was originally prepared still to the Swedish throne). Peter grew impressionable, nervous person, who loved art and music, but most of all adored the army and everything that was somehow connected with military affairs. In all other areas of knowledge, he remained a complete ignoramus.

In 1742, the boy was brought to Russia, where his aunt, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, took care of him. He was baptized under the name of Peter Fedorovich, and Elizabeth chose the daughter of Christian-August Anhalt of Zerbst and Johanna-Elizabeth - Sophia Augusta Frederick (in Orthodoxy - Ekaterina Alekseevna) as a candidate for the role of his wife.

Peter's relationship with Catherine did not work out from the very beginning: the infantile young man was much inferior in intelligence to his wife, was still interested in children's war games and did not show any signs of attention to Catherine at all. It is believed that until the 1750s there was no relationship between the spouses, however, after a certain operation, Catherine gives birth to a son, Pavel, from Peter in 1754. The birth of a son did not help to bring together essentially strangers, Peter has a favorite, Elizaveta Vorontsova.

Around the same time, a regiment of Holstein soldiers was discharged to Pyotr Fedorovich, and he spends almost all his free time on the parade ground, completely surrendering to military drill.

During his stay in Russia, Peter almost never learned the Russian language, he did not like Russia at all, did not try to learn its history, cultural traditions, and simply despised many Russian customs. His attitude towards the Russian Church was just as disrespectful - according to contemporaries, during church services he behaved inappropriately, did not observe Orthodox rites and fasts.

Empress Elizabeth deliberately did not allow Peter to resolve any political issues, leaving behind him the only position of director of the gentry corps. At the same time, Pyotr Fedorovich did not hesitate to criticize the actions of the Russian government, and after the start of the Seven Years' War, he openly showed sympathy for Frederick II, the Prussian king. All this, of course, did not add either popularity or any little respect for him from the circles of the Russian aristocracy.

An interesting foreign policy prologue to the reign of Pyotr Fedorovich was an incident that “happened” with Field Marshal S. F. Apraksin. Russia, which entered the Seven Years' War, quite quickly seized the initiative from the Prussians in the Livonian direction, and throughout the spring of 1757 pushed the army of Frederick II to the west. Having driven the Prussian army across the Neman River with a powerful onslaught after a general battle near the village of Gross-Egersdorf, Apraksin suddenly turned the Russian troops back. The Prussians, who woke up only a week later, quickly made up for their lost positions, and pursued the Russians on the heels right up to the Prussian border.

What happened to Apraksin, this experienced commander and veteran warrior, what kind of obsession came over him?

The explanation is the news received in those days by Apraksin from Chancellor Bestuzhev-Ryumin from the capital of the Russian Empire about the sudden illness of Elizabeth Petrovna. Logically judging that in the event of her death, Pyotr Fedorovich (who was crazy about Frederick II) will take the throne and for military actions with the Prussian king he will definitely not pat him on the head, Apraksin (most likely, on the orders of Bestuzhev-Ryumin, who also decided to play it safe ) retreats back to Russia.

At that time, it worked out, Elizabeth recovered from her illness, the chancellor who fell into disfavor was sent to the village, and the field marshal was put on trial, which then lasted three years and ended with the sudden death of Apraksin from apoplexy.

Portrait of Peter III by artist A. P. Antropov, 1762

However, later Elizaveta Petrovna still dies, and on December 25, 1761, Pyotr Fedorovich ascends the throne.

Literally from the very first days after his accession, Peter III developed a vigorous activity, as if proving to the entire royal court and to himself that he could rule better than his aunt. According to one of Peter's contemporaries, - “already in the morning he was in his office, where he listened to reports ..., then he hurried to the Senate or collegiums. ... In the Senate, he took on the most important cases himself energetically and assertively. As if in imitation of his grandfather, the reformer Peter I, he proposed a series of transformations.

In general, during the 186 days of his reign, Peter managed to issue many legislative acts and rescripts.

Among them, the decree on the secularization of church land property and the Manifesto on granting "liberties and freedom to the entire Russian noble nobility" (thanks to which the nobles received an exceptionally privileged position) can be called somewhat serious. In addition, Peter seemed to have begun some kind of struggle with the Russian clergy, issuing a decree on the obligatory shaving of priests' beards and prescribing for them a dress code very similar to the uniform of Lutheran pastors. In the army, Peter III everywhere imposed the Prussian order of military service.

In order to somehow raise the steadily declining popularity of the new emperor, his confidants insisted on the implementation of certain liberal laws. So, for example, signed by the king, a decree was issued on the abolition of the Secret Investigation Office.

On the positive side, one can characterize the economic policy of Pyotr Fedorovich. He created the State Bank of Russia and issued a decree on the issuance of banknotes (which entered into force already under Catherine), Peter III decided on the freedom of Russia's foreign trade - all these initiatives, however, were fully realized already in the reign of Catherine the Great .

As interesting as Peter's plans were in the economic sector, things were just as sad in the foreign policy sphere.

Soon after the accession of Peter Fedorovich to the throne, the representative of Frederick II, Heinrich Leopold von Goltz, arrives in St. Petersburg, whose main goal was to negotiate a separate peace with Prussia. The so-called "Petersburg Peace" of April 24, 1762 was concluded with Frederick: Russia returned all the eastern lands conquered from Prussia. In addition, the new allies agreed to provide each other with military assistance in the form of 12,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry units in case of war. And this condition was much more important for Peter III, since he was preparing for a war with Denmark.

As contemporaries testified, the grumbling against Peter, as a result of all these dubious foreign policy "achievements", was "nationwide". The instigator of the conspiracy was the wife of Pyotr Fedorovich, with whom relations have recently worsened utterly. The speech of Catherine, who declared herself Empress on June 28, 1762, was supported among the guards and a number of court nobles - Peter III Fedorovich there was nothing left but to sign a paper on his own abdication.

On July 6, temporarily located in the town of Ropsha (before being transferred to the Shlissedburg fortress), Peter suddenly dies "from hemorrhoidal lapses and severe colic."

Thus ended the inglorious short reign of the non-Russian in spirit and deeds of Emperor Peter III.